Reel slot machines have been used in gaming establishments for more than one hundred years. The traditional reel slot machine has three mechanical reels that rotate around a common horizontal axis. A reel strip is attached around the circumference of each slot reel and the reel strip contains a plurality of symbols thereon. As each reel comes to a stop, a symbol on the perimeter of the reel strip is displayed on a horizontal pay line on the face of the gaming machine. If the symbols that align on the payline match one of the preselected winning combinations, the player is a winner.
From the traditional three reel, single payline slot machine, newer slot machine concepts have evolved. Slot machines have been developed that have multiple paylines--such as additional horizontal paylines, diagonal paylines and even V-shaped paylines. The number of reels have been increased beyond the basic three reel slot machines; four reels, five reels and more have been used up to the classic Big Bertha slot machine that has ten reels.
Besides using mechanical reels, slot machines have been developed that use video representations of spinning reels. However, video reel slot machines have not been as successful as the mechanical spinning reel slot machines because the players feel that their chances of winning are lower on video slot machines. On a mechanical spinning reel slot machine, a player has a feel for the number of symbols that are located on the reel strip which is mounted around the circumference of the spinning wheel and therefore the player perceives that he knows the odds of each symbol appearing on a payline. In a video slot machine, the player has no way of perceiving how may symbols are possible to appear in each window behind the payline. Therefore, the player perception is that he is receiving a better opportunity of winning on a mechanical spinning reel slot machine.
One of the more popular video reel slot machines in the world that has been created is a five reel, nine payline slot machine. These slot machines are known as "Australian" style slot machines since their genesis appears to have been in Australia. When the video representation of the reels stop spinning, fifteen symbols are displayed to the player disposed in three horizontal rows and five vertical columns. On this three-by-five matrix formed by the three rows and five columns of symbols that are shown, nine separate paylines are provided.
Payline #1 is the center horizontal row as shown: X X X X X
 Payline #2 is the top horizontal row as shown: X X X X X
 Payline #3 is the bottom horizontal row as shown: X X X X X
 Payline #4 is the V-shaped configuration as shown: X X X X X
 Payline #5 is an inverted V-shaped configuration as shown: X X X X X
 Payline #6 is a W-shaped configuration as shown: X X X X X
 Payline #7 is an inverted W-shaped configuration as shown: X X X X X
 Payline #8 is another inverted W-shaped configuration as shown: X X X X X
 Payline #8 is another W-shaped configuration as shown: X X X X X
These nine payline configurations are merely representative of any of a myriad of payline configurations that can be used. and the number of paylines can be more or less than nine paylines.
Each coin, token or credit wagered by the player activates in sequential order the paylines. The player must wager nine coins to activate all nine paylines with one coin on each line. A maximum of five credits is usually allowed (although other gaming machines of this type can have a maximum number of credits less than five or more than five up to as many as twenty per payline) on each payline so the maximum wager by the player would be forty-five credits.
For example, there is in use in Australia a video reel slot machine that has twenty paylines and allows up to twenty coins, tokens or credits to be wagered on each payline.
A plethora of winning symbol combinations are provided so that the player has a large number of various opportunities to win depending on which symbols are displayed in which locations on the reels when the reels stop spinning.
In order to improve the player appeal of mechanical spinning reel slot machines, a recent development has been what are known as secondary event slot machines. In secondary event gaming machines, the player first plays a main game. If a preselected event occurs during the play of the main game, the player is provided with a secondary event which allows the player an opportunity to win a bonus payout.
One of the first secondary event games that was created for the slot machine market is a game known as the "WHEEL OF FORTUNE" based on the television game show of the same name. When the third reel of the slot machine displayed a "Spin" symbol on the payline, the secondary event was represented by a replica spinning wheel. The player would press a special "Spin" button on the button panel of the gaming to activate the replica spinning wheel to rotate. When the replica spinning wheel came to rest after a few seconds, the player would win the amount shown in the arcuate segment demarcated by an indicator. The winning segment was randomly determined by the electronics of the game. The player could win as many as one thousand coins during this secondary event phase of the game.
The popularity of "WHEEL OF FORTUNE" spawned other secondary event games. Currently a very popular secondary event game is the video reel slot machine known as "REEL 'EM IN" which is an Australian style five reel, nine payline video slot machine that provides the player with a secondary event if certain preselected winning combinations are achieved on the paylines. In this game, which has a fishing theme, if the player achieves a secondary event opportunity, the first video screen display is replaced by a second video screen display which shows five fisherman sitting in boats. The player selects a fisherman and video animation shows the fisherman reeling in a fish. The size of the fish caught determines the multiplier applied to the amount of the player's wager which is how the secondary event payout is determined.
The "REEL 'EM IN" game has the drawback of being entirely a video reel slot machine. In a video reel slot machine, a player cannot physically analyze the size of the reel strip and the player cannot physically estimate the number of symbols on each reel strip. Therefore, many reel slot machine players are uncomfortable playing video reel slot machines since the player has absolutely no feel for the odds on this type of machine.
Also none of the current secondary event games that are available offer the player more than one opportunity in the secondary event phase of the game. Whenever a player achieves a secondary event, the player is provided with only one chance at the secondary event.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a gaming slot machine in which the main game has at least five reels and five or more paylines and the secondary event game is a rotating wheel arrangement and the player is provided with multiple chances to spin the rotating wheel of the secondary event game.
It is a feature of the present invention to provide, in the preferred embodiment, a slot machine with five mechanical or video reels and nine paylines which also includes a secondary event feature. The secondary event feature, in the preferred embodiment, is a rotating wheel bonus game in which each spin of the rotating wheel is a winning spin. The player is also given multiple chances at the secondary event with the number of chances based on the number of paylines that have been activated by the player prior to the spin of the reels in the main game; or the number of coins, tokens or credits that have been wagered by the player at the beginning of the main game; or by the symbol combinations achieved by the player on the active pay lines of the main game.
It is an advantage of the present invention that the player will be encouraged to play more paylines and wager more coins, tokens or credits in the main game since the player will receive multiple chances at the secondary event feature based on the number of paylines or coins, tokens or credits played by the player or the symbol combinations achieved by the player on any active pay lines on the main game.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description.